In the lead-up to Tuesday’s elections, candidates on both sides of the aisle deployed a variety of tactics to manipulate the Latino vote, which pundits predicted would play a pivotal role in the final results. But when one evaluates the winners and losers of Tuesday’s races, it seems that all the pandering to Hispanics—“Hispandering,” if you will—was ultimately unnecessary. In fact, a bigger factor at play was Democrats’ refusal to stand up on behalf of Latinos and Latinas.

This summer, President Obama announced that he would delay executive action on immigration reform until after November, which proved to be the last straw for Latinos waiting for a move on the issue. In fact, immigration reform was the most important issue for Latinos at the ballot this year, as confirmed in an election eve poll from political opinion firm Latino Decisions.

Aware that this was a topic of contention, but unwilling to promise any real policy changes concerning it, many candidates dug deep into expensive ad campaigns to bring out the Latino vote through shallow maneuvers. In Texas, the winner of Tuesday’s gubernatorial election, Republican Greg Abbott, faced an uphill climb to convince the ten million Latinos who live in his state that he was the right candidate for them. Running against reproductive rights champion Wendy Davis, he understood the importance of speaking to voters of color, ultimately spending $1.1 million on Spanish-language ads. The first of these included his Latina mother-in-law and was aired during the Mexico versus Brazil World Cup Game. On the campaign trail, Abbott frequently reminded voters that if elected, his wife would be the first Latina First Lady of Texas.

Abbott’s “Hispandering” was not nearly as effective as he might have hoped, however, as Davis ultimately brought in 55 percent of the Latino vote, according to exit polls. This is unsurprising upon examining Abbott’s policies, which make it clear that his relationship with his Latina wife does not translate to a friendly relationship with all Latinos or Latinas. Once he comes into office, Abbott has promised to work to repeal Obamacare, which would reinstate enormous barriers to health care for thousands of newly insured Latinos. He also supports the further militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border, which already funnels tax dollars toward private prison corporations and weapons manufacturers. And although Abbott remained relatively quiet on immigration during his campaign, he has not distanced himself from the Texas GOP and its hardline stance calling for an end to in-state tuition for undocumented students and a ban on “sanctuary cities” that do not enforce immigration laws.

On the other hand, Abbott’s opponent Wendy Davis was relatively effective at speaking to communities of color, particularly women of color, promising that if elected, she would fight to increase the Texas minimum wage and sign the Texas Equal Pay Act into law. However, even Davis was unable to overcome Latino dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party’s immigration reform failures on a national level, which may have contributed to a low Latino turnout during midterm elections. Texas also has one of the most restrictive voter ID rules in the country, making it even harder for people of color to cast their vote.

Neither did Latino voters make the needed difference for Democrats in Florida’s gubernatorial elections. Faced with Tea Party gubernatorial incumbent Rick Scott or former Republican-turned-Democrat Charlie Crist, there was no great choice for communities of color. In spite of this, both candidates recognized the need to court Latino voters, who make up a relatively small but key percentage of the electorate in their state: Both chose Latino running mates and participated in a debate on the popular Latino news network Telemundo. Gov. Rick Scott, in particular, launched what Reuters’ David Adams called “the biggest and earliest Spanish-language TV ad campaign in Florida history.” Scott even took Spanish classes, running ads that featured former Gov. Jeb Bush encouraging voters in fluent Spanish to support his campaign.

However, like Abbott in Texas, Scott’s track record on Latino issues is abysmal. Polling shows that Latinos rated access to health care as a relatively significant priority this election. Yet as Florida governor, Scott did not expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, even with the available federal funding for startup costs. He has actively opposed Obamacare and promised to continue to do so, and his stance on raising the minimum wage—also of concern to Latino and Latina voters—is unclear at best. (In the past, he has opposed an increase, but in a recent debate with Charlie Christ, he awkwardly came out as supporting one, so long as the private sector sets them.) Scott’s record on immigration is equally poor, considering that he once supported an Arizona-style immigration bill.

Most likely because of Scott’s stance on these issues, his opponent Charlie Crist did better with Latinos and voters of color in general. But even with his fair share of “Hispandering”—check out this Spanish ad narrated by his Latina running mate, Annette Taddeo—the former Republican was unable to clearly communicate to Latinos how his policies would be different from the many other Democrats who have been talking the talk, but not walking the walk, when it comes to immigration. Crist did not win over enough Latinos to seize the Florida governor’s seat on Tuesday.

Like in Florida and Texas, Latinos were poised to make a big difference in Georgia’s elections. They represent the fastest-growing voter bloc: In 2003, 10,000 were registered to vote, and 220,000 are registered now. In Georgia, however, rather than trying to engage those voters through shallow maneuvers—or, as unlikely as it may seem, legitimate action—politicians poured their resources into disenfranchising them. Republicans like Secretary of State Brian Kemp required that every ballot go through a complex screening process that ultimately resulted in the reported loss of at least 40,000 votes, mostly from voters of color. Meanwhile, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jason Carter targeted almost all of his campaigning at, as the American Prospect put it, “white dudes in suburbia,” altogether ignoring communities of color.

The GOP enjoyed a sweeping victory Tuesday, with Republicans gaining control of the Senate, maintaining control of the House, and winning many key gubernatorial races. However, this should not be taken as a sign that conservatives are suddenly learning to speak to Latinos, people of color, or women in a way they can hear. On the contrary, exit polls show that white men won the GOP victory Tuesday. No amount of money can repackage political platforms that do not represent Latinos’ and Latinas’ concerns about immigration, poverty, education, and reproductive rights into robotic Spanish. English may not be the first language of many Latinos, but that does not mean that we can’t understand “Hispandering” when we see it.

So what’s the takeaway? It’s time Democrats start listening. In this election, Latinos showed that they would not show up for politicians who do not take effective and meaningful action on issues they care about. With would-be legislators and governors concentrating their efforts on expensive Spanish-language advertising, lukewarm get-out-the-vote efforts, or voter suppression laws, neither party actually did any impactful outreach to overcome the very deep disillusionment Latinos feel for politics. So although the Republicans’ paltry attempts at “Hispandering” may not have done them any particular good, Democrats’ refusal to commit to real change harmed them even more.

After deciding to delay any executive action on immigration reform, Obama has faced multiple hecklers at different speaking events who publicly hold him accountable for his inaction. At the most recent one, he told the protester to “go protest the Republicans.” Hopefully, he and other Democrats understood loud and clear from these elections: Latinos are holding you accountable. Do something.

]]>http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2014/11/06/latinos-demand-real-action-not-hispandering-in-exchange-for-votes/feed/4Government-Issued IDs: A Barrier to the Vote, A Barrier to Emergency Contraceptionhttp://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2012/11/28/government-issued-ids-barrier-to-vote-barrier-to-emergency-contraception/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=government-issued-ids-barrier-to-vote-barrier-to-emergency-contraception
http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2012/11/28/government-issued-ids-barrier-to-vote-barrier-to-emergency-contraception/#commentsWed, 28 Nov 2012 21:39:03 +0000The use of a government issued ID to suppress the rights of “undesirable” communities is not just limited to voting rights, but is also a barrier for access to over-the-counter emergency contraception.

This past election cycle, we saw the power a government-issued ID can give an individual. In states where voter ID laws were being enforced, individuals who did not have government IDs could not exercise their right to vote. Several communities were adversely affected: transgender people, Latinos, African Americans, students, the elderly, people with disabilities—in short, many, many people. These ID laws harken back to Jim Crow-era poll taxes and “literacy tests,” and at the same time increased the impact of fear tactics used to intimidate voters from going to the polls, exacerbating the historic and current inequities that many communities of color face.

Voting ID laws, and voter suppression in general, also have a unique impact on women of color. Recently, the Center for American Progress issued a report that shows how voter suppression denies justice for women of color. The report finds that many people who are eligible to vote don’t have the appropriate identification they would need to do so, and that this disproportionately impacts people of color—and particularly women of color. While only eight percent of white voters lack proper identification, 25 percent of African American and 16 percent of Latino voters do not possess the needed identification to vote according to these laws. What’s more troubling, some states have required proof of citizenship before individuals vote. According to the CAP report, seven percent of all eligible American voters lack quick access to documents needed to show citizenship, and though 34 percent of women have documents showing citizenship, these documents do not reflect their current legal names. Once you see these numbers, it’s no wonder that women of color are disproportionately impacted by voter suppression efforts. In fact, the CAP report estimates that between 596,000 and 959,000 women of color may have been disenfranchised this past Election Day.

Transgender people, too are uniquely affected by voter ID legislation. Transgender and gender non-conforming people face a complex web of barriers to gaining documents that accurately reflect their gender and name. In fact, a report from the Williams Institute found that 41 percent of transgender citizens do not have documents that reflect their transitions, 74 percent did not have an updated passport, and 27 percent did not have identification documents that reflected their current gender at all. The report also found that transgender and gender non-conforming people of color, students, those with low incomes, and those with disabilities were disproportionately affected. Moreover, in addition to creating barriers to voting, an ID that does not match one’s gender presentation may also expose transgender people to harassment or violence.

The use of a government issued ID to suppress the rights of “undesirable” communities is not just limited to voting rights, however, but is also a barrier for access to over-the-counter emergency contraception. As it stands now, over-the-counter emergency contraception is only available to people over the age of 17, and they must provide government-issued identification. Those under the age of 17 and those who have no government-issued ID must get a prescription. Because having updated and valid government-issued identification is difficult for women and transgender people of color, obtaining emergency contraception over the counter can be difficult or impossible.

Additionally, women, transgender, and gender non-conforming Latin@s are disproportionately represented among the uninsured, making the prospect of getting a prescription for emergency contraception—a time-sensitive drug—that much more costly and burdensome. Moreover, for Latin@s, including undocumented Latin@s, many other obstacles may affect access to the care they need in a timely fashion: financial costs, lack of linguistically and culturally competent providers, stigma, and lack of transportation.

Critics may say that individuals who cannot access over the counter EC should just use other forms of over the counter contraception on a regular basis, such as condoms and spermicide, but let’s face it: not all individuals are in healthy relationships, cost may be a barrier for these methods as well, but most importantly, sometimes birth control methods fail. The bottom line is that all individuals should have real access to a wide range of birth control options so that they can truly exercise and enjoy their bodily autonomy.

Much of the discussion this election cycle has been about changing demographics. But demographics alone aren’t going to run a policy agenda through the system. Huge challenges remain in economic justice, immigration, environment, education and housing reform.

Much of the discussion this election cycle has been about changing demographics.

Black voters turned out overwhelmingly for Obama. Millennial voters, who represent the start of the next demographic phase, did too. Republicans are blaming each other for losing the Latino vote; Steve Schmidt, head of McCain’s 2008 campaign, told MSNBC this was the last election that someone could possibly win without getting a good portion of Latinos, which of course Gov. Romney didn’t. Mike Huckabee said Republicans have done a terrible job of reaching out to people of color, while DREAMers are claiming credit—and I’ll give it to them—for forcing POTUS’s hand to deliver the Deferred Action executive order, which in turn delivered him many Latino votes.

But demographics alone aren’t going to run a policy agenda through the system. It’s not like we, people of color, can just exist and, as a result, lead politicians to pass helpful policies simply by asking. Huge challenges remain in economic justice, immigration, environment, education and housing reform. The nation’s understanding of what it will take to generate racial, economic and gender equity remains shallow, focused largely on how new constituencies threaten the old white way, per Bill O’Reilly.

But if we keep doing our work, if we keep fighting, that collective understanding will deepen in ways that make some real breakthroughs possible.

Voting yesterday, I paid more attention than I usually do. My polling place is a school gymnasium around the corner from my apartment in Rego Park, Queens. There were about 20 voters and as many poll workers at 9:30 a.m. The mood was hushed—serious but not solemn. People smiled at each other. Many older voters of all colors, though heavy on the Eastern Europeans as is the neighborhood. The poll workers were diverse, and there were interpreters for Hindi, Chinese, and Spanish. A smiling woman in a suit posed for a picture and I thought “new immigrant voter.” It was different from 2008, when Election Day had the “historic” mantle. Yesterday, I felt like I was doing an everyday kind of thing with my neighbors, not so glamorous as the last time but just as important. To be honest, I don’t find elections the most compelling form of political activity, and I often vote with a feeling of being on auto pilot.

But over the last few months, I’ve been influenced by my friend Judith Browne-Dianis. Browne-Dianis is the director of the Advancement Project, which has been doing stellar work to protect the vote, as it does every election season. Every time she talks about voter suppression, I see her calling up childhood memories of going with her mother to the polls. I see her acknowledging her elders for making sure she’d be able to vote in the first place. I see her putting on notice anyone who dares attempt suppression on her watch. Her passion for a fair democracy has been reinforced by our own Voting Rights Watch project, which has me all agitated about that suppression, too.

The way the voting rights community has come together with groups like Color of Change, the League of Women Voters, the NAACP, and Take Action Minnesota has been astounding in the sheer volume of resistance, monitoring, problem-solving and communication. My social media feeds made it clear that people were looking after each other at the polls. The memes of this election for me will always be “stay in line!” and “don’t let anyone tell you you can’t vote!”

And that’s the message I take into today. Stay until it’s done, and don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t. The last four years has taught me that presidents matter, but movements matter more. Politicians, and everyday Americans too, do great things when movements make it impossible to do anything else. The tone and energy that went into preventing voter suppression, combined with the tone and energy of my polling place this morning, is what we need to ride for the next four years. It is an outraged, urgent force that changes how we look at things, combined with a respectful inclusiveness that enables everyone to participate.

Oh, voter fraud, you gigantic crazy imaginary monster in the closet. So many people worried about people who aren’t registered to vote voting anyway, or voting more than once, despite the lack of any evidence. Yet when it comes to the real instances of potential voter fraud, it’s being committed by the people who have pledged to oversee the elections.

The most egregious instance is in Oregon, where an election official is accused of filling out ballots in which races were left blank with Republican candidates, a move that could potentially shift the balance of power within the state legislature. Via Oregon Live:

The unidentified elections worker allegedly cast votes for Republicans in races left blank, according to Willamette Week, which first reported the story. …Clackamas County is considered a swing county. Out of more than 228,000 registered voters – more than 10 percent of voters statewide – Democrats have an edge of just 7,000. As of Thursday, Clackamas County had received 95,294 ballots, about half of those expected.

News of the investigation promptly elicited cries from Democrats concerned about the integrity of next Tuesday’s results. State Democratic leaders said they feared the employee’s alleged actions could tilt the House majority — now at a 30-30 tie — toward Republicans, a result that would affect Oregonians statewide.

The Oregon case is a blatant example of tampering with election results. But less blatant but even more troublesome is the number of those who are having issues voting absentee. In Palm Beach, Florida, a key swing state, the election board is now admitting that 27,000 absentee ballots aren’t being properly read by tabulating machines and are being copied instead. The Palm Beach Post also reports that other voters are incensed to learn that their votes are being rejected due to the canvasing board saying the signatures don’t match.

In Ohio, another highly watched swing state, tens of thousands of voters may not have an address that matches the voter roles on Tuesday, and thousands more had their absentee ballots initially wrongfully rejected due to a “computer glitch” that made change of address information not update properly.

Joe Andrews, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Public Safety, which oversees the [Buerau of Motor Vehicles], said a software glitch caused about 100,000 change-of-address notifications made on the bureau’s website not to be sent to the secretary of state’s office. The bureau began sharing address information with Husted’s office last year to help keep better tabs on the state’s voter rolls.

Andrews said the online address changes are a small percentage of those shared by the bureau and that the updated info was sent to Husted as soon as the glitch was discovered last week.

Matt McClellan, Husted’s spokesman, said of the 100,000 notifications, about 65,000 were registered voters and 32,000 of those already had updated their address information with the secretary of state’s office.

That left about 33,000 voters whose addresses possibly would not match the voter rolls.

While states like Minnesota will be voting on amendments to require photo ID’s at polling places on election day, the real breakdown of a properly and legally cast vote seems to be within the system itself, not with the voters.

]]>http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2012/11/05/voter-fraud-isnt-voter-problem-draft/feed/0The Right to Vote Affects the Power to Choose: How Voter Suppression in 2012 Will Erode Reproductive Rightshttp://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2012/07/13/power-to-vote-affects-our-power-to-choose-how-voter-suppression-in-2012-affects-r/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=power-to-vote-affects-our-power-to-choose-how-voter-suppression-in-2012-affects-r
http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2012/07/13/power-to-vote-affects-our-power-to-choose-how-voter-suppression-in-2012-affects-r/#commentsFri, 13 Jul 2012 08:39:22 +0000

The power to preserve and expand reproductive rights is inextricably tied the right to vote. But what is power if your ability to leverage it is stripped away?

Since 1984, women have been the majority of the total vote in every presidential election. This year, millions of women will stand in line and prepare themselves to decide who will serve in state legislatures and in the U.S. Congress. They will decide who sits on the local school board and who becomes the next President of the United States. They will also decide who shapes the future of reproductive health and rights for all women in this country. The power to preserve and expand reproductive rights is inextricably tied the right to vote.

But what is power if your ability to leverage that power is stripped away?

That’s just what Republican-led state legislatures across the country are poised to do. Since 2010 state legislatures with Republican majorities have introduced and passed restrictive laws with the potential — and many argue the intent — of forcing widespread voter suppression, and to disenfranchise women, people of color, students, the elderly, and low-income communities.

The overall strategy has included efforts to:

Pass laws that require voters to produce proof of citizenship;

Make the voter registration process more difficult by eliminating Election Day registration and creating new restrictions on voter registration drives;

Cut early and absentee voting periods;

Make the restoration of voting rights more difficult;

Require eligible voters to possess current and valid state issued photo ID

Brennan Center for Justice.

These voter suppression tactics are not new, our nation has faced this type of encroachment before. During the civil rights movement African-Americans, women, students, and allies all fought together to gain access to the vote for all citizens. Now, Republican-led state legislatures across the nation are working to roll back hard-earned progress.

What happens if this strategy succeeds?

According a Brennan Center for Justice study, approximately one in ten, or 21 million, Americans do not currently possess valid and current government-issued photo ID. Many of those voters are women whose last names changed with marriages.

The same study found that since the beginning of 2011, at least 180 bills restricting voting rights were introduced in 41 states. Due to this well-funded and well-organized GOP-led effort, 16 states succeeded in passing restrictive voting laws. These states account for 214 electoral votes, or nearly 79 percent of the total needed to win the presidency. If these restrictions are enacted, an estimated 5 million eligible voters could be turned away from the polls in 2012.

Republican state legislators are not pushing this agenda alone. A corporate-funded conservative group called the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) — whose membership includes legislators and major corporations — created model voter ID legislation. Then, legislators and corporations worked together to introduce and push the model voter ID legislation in several states under the guise of preventing voting fraud.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), “proponents of such voter suppression legislation have failed to show that voter fraud is a problem anywhere in the country.” Right-wing politicians and groups including ALEC are leveraging the right to vote against a problem that doesn’t exist.

Brennan Center for Justice.

What’s happening in states?

Florida has a long history of disenfranchising its eligible voters. Florida Governor Rick Scott’s attempt to purge more than 180,000 Floridians from voter rolls just before a key election is a prime example the GOP’s effort to disrupt the voting process and disenfranchise eligible voters. In the 2000 presidential election, thousands of ballots from African American voters were rejected and tossed out. George Bush’s victory was hinged upon the decision of Florida election officials, he won by just 573 votes. Every single vote counts.

Some Republican officials are transparent about the intent behind their efforts to rig the 2012 elections. Last month, Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Mike Turzai (R) openly stated that voter ID “is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania.” As a result of Pennsylvania’s new voter ID law, over 758,000 eligible voters now face disenfranchisement because they lack an acceptable form of ID. Over 186,000 of these voters live in the urban center of Philadelphia — home to nearly half of all African Americans in Pennsylvania.

In Mississippi the photo ID referendum has proved to be especially cumbersome. In order to obtain the required photo ID, voters have to have a birth certificate. To obtain a birth certificate, voters most have a state photo ID. See where this gets sticky?

The Texas voter ID law will accept gun licenses — but not student IDs — as proof of identification in lieu of a photo ID. Fortunately, like Mississippi, Texas is required to undergo federal review for any changes to its voting laws due to a history of discriminatory practices.

There are several factors that contribute to a person not having a current and valid photo ID. They expire. Some voters live in areas where driving is not necessary, therefore a state-issued drivers license is not necessary. Voters move and are unable to obtain new ID prior to registration or election day. College students who live away from home and only possess a student ID are also at risk of being turned away for the polls in some states.

The latest available figures show that only 48 percent of voting-age women with ready access to their U.S. birth certificates have a birth certificate with their current legal name. The same survey showed that only 66 percent of voting-age women with ready access to any proof of citizenship have a document with their current legal name.

Ultimately, these measures make the voting process more confusing and place additional burdens on groups who each had to struggle to obtain the right to vote and the right to access quality & affordable reproductive health care.

What are leaders in the movement saying?

“If you can’t access the ballot box, how do you ensure access to reproductive health care?” — Aimee Thorne-Thompson, Advocates for Youth

For reproductive justice advocates, voter suppression is a reproductive justice issue. Many groups like the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Rights (RCRC) and NYC Reproductive Justice Coalition (NYC RJC, formerly SisterSong NYC) and Advocates for Youth work year-around to educate communities on the issues and mobilize them to vote for progressive candidates and ballot measures.

Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Justice Director at RCRC, Angela Ferrell-Zabala says voter suppression has the potential to affect down ballot measures and local races in states like Florida.

“Down ballot issues like Amendment 6 will open the state’s constitutional privacy laws and make it very difficult for women to seek abortion care’’ Ferrell-Zabala states.

If Amendment 6 is passed, politicians will be allowed to intrude on personal medical decisions and take away access to healthcare that many women who are Florida public employees currently have.

There is much at stake and “we have to look at the repercussions, it all leads back to reproductive justice. Accessing healthcare and education — making informed decisions about your sexual health and family planning.” Ferrell-Zabala explains.

This is about agency and the power to transform communities.

“To limit the agency of women and youth who are disenfranchised by the social conditions of our race, gender, age and socio-economic status is unacceptable at best, and a direct violation of our human rights at its worst.” says Jasmine Burnett, NYC RJC lead organizer.

Gloria Feldt, author and past president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America argues that “the young, the poor, the women struggling to make ends meet for their families are most vulnerable to disenfranchisement yet have the most to lose if right-wing perpetrators of voter suppression succeed.”

The power of the women’s vote can only be effectively leveraged if every woman who is eligible to vote is able to enter the voting booth and have her vote counted. If they are not counted in 2012 then, “reproductive rights, health, and justice would be among the first freedoms to go, and economic justice not far behind.” said Feldt.

The implementation of voter ID laws and other restrictive measures have the potential to shape whose votes are cast and counted in this year’s presidential election, but we must think long-term. What happens after the next presidential inauguration takes place on the steps of the U.S. Capitol?

Local races will occur where the individuals on the ballot stand to gain the power to decide what happens in women’s lives. They will have the power to decide what health centers receive funding, or whether the personhood of a woman is valued over the interests of a fertilitized egg… laws passed by elected officials who will never be in the position to choose. More often than not, these decisions affect women of color and women with low-incomes the most.

“The reproductive health, rights and justice movement must work with organizations doing voter education and civic engagement work to defeat these bills and ballot measures. Otherwise, all of our other rights are at risk.” says Thorne-Thompson.

As America’s democracy grows older and its citizenry becomes more diverse, our elected officials should focus on reducing barriers to voting and developing a more modern voting process. We must create a more streamlined and effective registration process and improve our use of technology in the voting process in order to realize full voter-participation. The power of the vote depends on this and our democracy is dramatically weakened — indeed completely undermined — without it.

]]>http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2012/07/13/power-to-vote-affects-our-power-to-choose-how-voter-suppression-in-2012-affects-r/feed/0(VIDEO) New Efforts at Voter Suppression Aimed at Latinoshttp://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2010/10/20/video-efforts-voter-suppression-aimed-latinos/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=video-efforts-voter-suppression-aimed-latinos
http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2010/10/20/video-efforts-voter-suppression-aimed-latinos/#commentsWed, 20 Oct 2010 19:14:51 +0000A conservative advocate and political consultant with ties to Dick Armey, George Bush, and big business has produced a television ad that encourages Latinos in Nevada not to vote.

]]>Talking Points Memoreports on the man behind a new Spanish-language ad encouraging Nevada Latinos not to vote.

Robert de Posada is a “veteran of Republican politics and now an advocate for what most would consider conservative, business-friendly immigration policy.”

De Posada has a long history of affiliations with conservative groups.

He served as co-director with Dick Armey on Americans for Border and Economic Security, on George W. Bush’s Social Security Commission, and as director of Hispanic affairs at the Republican National Committee until becoming disgruntled with the GOP and settling into conservative advocacy.

He told TPM that while “he’s become equally disgruntled with both parties, his current goal… is to punish Democrats for failing to deliver on a promise to pass comprehensive immigration reform.”

Curiously, his goals for immigration reform look nothing like the goals identified by the majority of groups representing the interests of Latino voters, nor of comprehensive immigration reform as proposed by the Democrats.

[I]t’s hard to imagine the immigration reforms de Podesta supports winning over a lot of Democrats: heightened border security, and drug enforcement; employee verification; and a temporary worker program. “No amnesty,” he said, adding that employers — he cited Meg Whitman — ought to get a pass until an effective verification system is put into place.

The ad in English can be seen here:

And in Spanish here:

In 1994, according to de Posada, he helped create the Hispanic Business Roundtable, which later became the Latino Coalition, where he was president until 2007.

According to TPM, the Latinos for Reform website lists its address as a P.O. Box operated by Susan Arceneaux, who was a big player in the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth operation. De Posada says that’s a mistake from some years back.

Clearly he’s been so busy figuring out ways to dissuade Latinos from voting he forgot to forward his mail.